Long Beach in semis after OT win

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With its season hanging in the balance, Long Beach worked a little overtime to advance to the Nassau Class B girls’ lacrosse semifinals for the third time in four years.

The Lady Marines squandered a three-goal lead with just over nine minutes remaining in regulation time of its quarterfinal matchup with visiting North Shore on May 19, but Caitlin Breglia made sure it wasn’t a heartbreaking high school finale for she and her classmates, nor a long offseason for the non-seniors.

Breglia weaved through a handful of defenders and drew a foul 1:10 into overtime, then buried her fourth goal of the game on a free-position shot to lift fourth-seeded Long Beach to a thrilling 9-8 victory. The team’s 10th win of the season advanced it to face No. 1 Garden City in the semis this Thursday, May 26, at 6 p.m. at Adelphi.

“We battled in a lot of one-goal games this year and I think it helped us,” Lady Marines coach Rachel Ray said. “It was really intense and I couldn’t imagine anyone else scoring the winner but Breglia. She was locked up all game, but she made the most of her opportunities.”

Junior Katie Whelan and eighth-grader Maggie Reznick had two goals and one assist apiece, junior Siobhan Rafferty scored once, and sophomore goaltender Sarah Reznick made 13 saves for Long Beach, which beat Bethpage in the opening round of the playoffs two days earlier.

“We didn’t think we had anything in the bag,” Ray said of the second-half lead against North Shore. “Teams are fighting to keep their seasons alive at this point.”  

After an evenly played first half ended tied at 3, Breglia scored the first two goals of the second half as the hosts gained a little control. Then, after North Shore’s Alana Greene responded with one of her four goals, Rafferty and Maggie Reznick both scored to put Long Beach ahead, 7-4.

North Shore, which beat the Lady Marines 12-9 during the regular season, forced overtime with the last three goals of regulation in less than a three-minute span after trailing 8-5. Madeline Podaras and Hannah Moran scored 16 seconds apart, and with 6:16 left Podaris set up Ashleigh Sheerin for the tying goal. Both goalies stood tall the rest of the way. Quinn Lacy made nine saves for the Lady Vikings.

Long Beach won the draw to open OT but was unable to maintain possession. Sophomore defender Emma Pfaff then forced a key turnover, and once the ball got into Breglia’s stick the rest is history. Ray lauded the efforts of Rafferty and seniors Caitlin Pyle and Kaylee Callahan in the midfield. “They do a lot of the work that doesn’t show up in the boxscore,” she said.

Now, Ray must figure out how to contend with Garden City. The Lady Trojans beat Long Beach 20-8 during the regular season. “We’re going to change some things defensively and see if we can have success,” she said. “We need to possess the ball and limit their chances in transition.”